Although the Gaza border protests-cum-riots have calmed down significantly over recent months, the Associated Press decided to commission a piece on Sunday discussing them.
Entitled, “In Gaza protests, Israeli troops aim for legs,” the piece claims that “Israeli snipers have targeted one part of the body more than any other — the legs.”
It’s revealing that the journalist, Todd Pitman, is Associated Press’ Asia Pacific correspondent. Working out of Bangkok, he’s thousands of miles away from the scene.
Conflation of Injury Types
The piece describes in great detail the toll paid by the protesters, documenting the numbers reported to have been treated at Gaza’s hospitals and field clinics as having reached “colossal proportions,” but fails to distinguish between those who suffered minor injuries such as scratches or tear gas inhalation from more serious wounds. And that’s if the numbers produced by the Hamas controlled Ministry of Health are believable to begin with.
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In fact, if we take at face value the figure of 10,511 protesters to have received medical care and consider it’s in the context of the estimated 200,000 people to have taken part in the protests, a quick calculation shows that approximately 5% of protesters were classified as “injured” in some way or another. Of this 5%, a significant proportion were treated for tear gas inhalation. Hardly colossal proportions.
Disturbingly, while the Associated Press article states the Hamas-authorized figures provided as fact, it only states that “The Israeli army says it is responding to… Palestinians armed with stones, grenades and firebombs.” This is not merely something claimed by the Israeli army – these are facts which have been independently verified by numerous reliable foreign journalists.
Palestinian unit infiltrate security fence and plant and detonate IED east of Juhr al-Dik in the central Gaza Strip this morning. An #IDF jeep can be seen in the background driving near the infiltration. #Gaza #Israel pic.twitter.com/cdXvoINIem
— Joe Truzman (@Jtruzmah) October 21, 2018
There are even videos of hordes of Palestinians breaking through the border fence, some of whom have managed to set Israeli army positions on fire, others have shot weapons, and brought machetes with them. All of this has been captured on video. This is not merely something claimed by the Israeli military.
IDF Attempts to Minimize Casualties
Perhaps most importantly, the fact that the IDF attempts to quell the most violent protesters by first shooting at the legs is a sign that it strives to protect Palestinians to some extent, even when they deliberately endanger themselves and others. As a result, many Palestinians have taken to crouching down as they approach the border fence, forcing the Israeli soldiers to either refrain from shooting entirely, or to take the risk that shots at the legs might end up killing people.
Colonel Richard Kemp on Gaza protests: I’ve seen members of the IDF down on the border trying everything they can to not kill innocent civilians. Or even not to kill Hamas fighters, because of the terrible publicity that follows that
MORE: https://t.co/T3eF7sgoVL #outsiders pic.twitter.com/reISsWuDBH
— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) June 11, 2018
This is what a border infiltration from #Gaza into #Israel looks like. See the man (0:30) clutching a meat cleaver? Imagine hundreds like him coming into Israeli territory, hoping to murder as many Israelis as possible.
This is what Israel is up against. pic.twitter.com/97c9jvEWOT
— (((Emanuel Miller))) (@emanumiller) May 14, 2018
In the minds of most people, a protest is something involving chants, pickets and placards waved in the air. When the media say “protest” about Gaza, they’re actually referring to a much more complex, violent phenomenon. Learn more here.
In reality, while many of the protesters are not violent and stay well away from the border fence, thousands have acted violently, attempting to break into Israel with weapons. Some of those injured have even openly admitted that they were not innocent bystanders, as documented here:
I was holding the fence, covering my two friends who were cutting the barbed wire. Something happened, I didn’t see anything, my leg felt like it was flying off, the rest hit my stomach. I’ve participated in the marches every Friday because we are surrounded and under siege. We have to support each other. We know that we might be injured, but we have to make sacrifices
Associated Press is a wire service used by hundreds, if not thousands, of media outlets around the globe. When it produces reports as skewed and lacking in detail as this, it literally affects the minds of many millions worldwide. The buck does not end with AP alone, however. Newspapers and websites reproducing wire content must be held to account.
Featured image: vectors by Vecteezy;
